Domestic Violence Charges Against Jeurys Familia Dismissed

DEC. 15: Assault charges against Familia were formally dropped today, reports ESPN New York’s Adam Rubin. According to Rubin, Fort Lee prosecutor Arthur Balsamo met with Familia’s wife prior to Thursday’s hearing and confirmed that she no longer wanted the case to be pursued.

As noted last month at the time of the report that charges could be dropped, however, this doesn’t preclude Familia from receiving some form of league-mandated suspension. Both Chapman received a 30-game suspension in the absence of either an arrest or charges being brought against him, while Reyes was suspended 52 games even though charges against him were dropped just before trial.

NOV. 18: The victim in the domestic violence case against Mets closer Jeurys Familia has asked that charges be dropped, reports Jim Baumbach of Newsday (Twitter link). Back on Nov. 1, news broke that Familia had been arrested and charged with simple assault in an alleged domestic violence incident.

Even in the event that the charges against Familia are dropped, which now seems a plausible outcome, the right-hander could still face punishment from the Commissioner’s office in the form of a suspension. Aroldis Chapman received a 30-game suspension earlier this season despite the fact that he was neither arrested nor charged in connection with domestic abuse allegations against him, and Familia’s own teammate, Jose Reyes (then with the Rockies), received a 52-game suspension even though the charges that had been brought against him were dropped shortly before the case went to trial.

If and when the criminal investigation into his actions is concluded, MLB commissioner Rob Manfred will undoubtedly look into the matter to determine the extent to which Familia will potentially be punished by the league. That determination, however, could take weeks or months depending on the level of information available. Notably, unlike suspensions for performance-enhancing drugs, domestic violence suspensions do not automatically preclude a player from participating in the offseason in a year during which they receive a ban.

Familia, who turned 27 last month, is arbitration-eligible for the second time this offseason and was projected by MLBTR contributor Matt Swartz to earn $8.7MM on the heels of a season in which he posted a 2.55 ERA with an NL-leading 51 saves, 9.7 K.9 and 3.6 BB/9 in 77 2/3 innings. He is obviously expected to play a significant role on the team again in 2017, though with Addison Reed on hand, it seems reasonable to think that the Mets will not necessarily prioritize the addition of another late-inning arm.

Yes, this is precisely the problem. The trouble with prosecuting DV has almost nothing to do with the fact that the victim asks that charges be dropped, but instead stems from the practical difficulties inherent in prosecuting DV if the victim will not testify to the fact that it occurred, as DV is often a one on one crime with no other witnesses. Even if a third party provides evidence, conviction is tough if victim does not want accused in jail.

So it goes. The system is stacked against victims of domestic violence. Wishing them safety, and sincerely sorry for the trauma some like this causes people.

Familia will receive nothing more than a slap on the wrist and be gleefully welcomed back by the Mets, who made more than clear with their pursuit of Jose Reyes that they don’t think there is anything wrong with domestic violence.

Reyes, Chapman, Familia and Kang — they will all continue playing and see punishment that isnt even as strict as what the MLB gives to players caught smoking weed. They do not care and place winning games and making money over being decent human beings who do not reward violent domestic abusers. We’ve barely progressed past a decade ago, when they award someone with “Comeback Player of the Year” for coming back after violently assaulting his girlfriend. Makes me wonder not for the first time why I even bother with this sport. Absolutely disgusting.

Perfectly said. A person(man or woman) can not be properly put on trial and found guilty when victims continue to request the case be dropped. It’s a shame money always comes into play. Whether it’s the person paying off or the potential victim accepting payout

I don’t know if chapman should be listed in that group. He wasn’t arrested, and I think the suspension was more for the gunshots, rather than domestic violence. While that is reckless and not a very good role model, it doesn’t make him a monster. I could be wrong though and maybe (hopefully not) he did commit DV.

Behavior doesn’t need to result in physical harm to be classified as domestic violence. Threatening behavior can qualify too. In Chapman’s case, both busting out the window of his car with his fist and firing the gun in the garage is what got him in deep with the policy. It doesn’t make him a monster, but it does make him a man in need of some serious lessons in anger management.

Who says the Mets don’t think there is anything wrong with DV? I guess you have inside intel on the situation. Just because hey signed Reyes doesn’t mean they approve. He served his time and did the penalty. Should he not be allowed to play?

They only signed him to quiet their critics about not going after the Cuban third-baseman (He got $36 million from the Astros). If this guy hadn’t been available they wouldnt have touched Reyes with a ten-foot poll.

Yes I am talking abt him…Your numbers are based on a very small sample (He cam up in September I believe. Cespeds is buddies with him and pushed for the Mets to sign him. Reyes fell into their lap and they grabbed him. I know what Sandy and his crew are up to all the time They think, dream eat and live how to save the Wilpon$ Dollars.

He’s going to be entering his age 33 season, he’s not a kid and the money that he got indicates that not a lot of teams were all that enthused by him. I’m sure he’ll be a useful player for a year or two, similar to what Reyes will give them.

Again, the Mets front office was put there by MLB to deal with these morons, they’re doing a fine job in spite of them.

Sandy Alderson is an Ivy League guy and a decorated combat Marine, I’m sure he thinks Jeff Wilpon is a complete tool. He’s just doing his job.

I can’t speak for this case not knowing the details but I find it difficult that a good portion of these victims of DV, involving high profile athletes, pursue having charges dropped. I think it sends the message to the perpetrators of DV that as long as they have the resources they control the outcomes.

I’m not sure the legal system has failed here. Under the parameters of our legal system this is the correct result. The system requires not only you having committed the offense, but that there is enough evidence to prove it. It appears the legal system has done a perfect job in the instances listed.

Overall… An overwhelming majority of charges are dropped or significantly reduced long before a conviction. Especially for first-time offenders.

When you have a relatively minor first-time offense, an uncooperative complainant, and a suspect who’s presumably got enough money to pay real lawyers to work with prosecutors… it’s very unlikely to result in much more than a tsk-tsk from the city attorney and maybe some diversion program.

Whether or not Familia specifically is guilty here, it’s a known issue that domestic violence is a disproportionately under-convicted crime in relation to how often it’s perpetrated and in comparison to other crimes. Whether there’s a good solution to that or not, it is, at best, incomplete and misleading to claim that the legal system “worked perfectly” here.

Well first off, I’d suggest that other crimes are pretty overconvicted. The issue is that domestic violence evidence is often lacking. Evidence rules are designed to set a high standard so we don’t put innocent people in jail. That necessarily means people who actually did it are going to get away with it sometimes. We’ve knowingly accepted and embraced that scenario. It doesn’t matter who did what, it only matters what the prosecution can prove. Our evidence system is designed to let some people who did it get away with it, in order to ensure we don’t imprison the wrong person. I think it did work perfectly.

Y’all are arguing over phrasing/framing here. The system worked well in one sense, but didn’t in a broader sense. There’s still an open question whether the system itself can account for that gap — i.e., is there a need to attempt to change social attitudes, or perhaps shift incentives, from outside the legal system, or is there some change within the system that can account for the issue without compromising its core principles? Would be more productive to consider those questions.

@guinnesspelican you just hit the nail on the head. When the abuser controls the purse strings it’s very easy for them to say “If I got to jail you have no income” or “If I am suspended then you are not supported”.

NOW… having said that I don’t know the details of this case well enough to speak ill of Familia but in general terms your comment is spot on.

It’s not a rich guy thing. It would be funny if it didn’t wreck people’s lives but it’s a running “joke” for so many cops… wife gets abused, wife calls 911, they show up, she shows them bruises and complains of how he’s always abusing her, then by the time they have the guy in cuffs the wife is screaming “Don’t take him away from me!”

It’s such a problem that some places have policies that the cops have any PC at all the suspected abuser gets arrested and charged automatically with or without a cooperative complainant.

99% of these cases aren’t about the abuser having financial control over victims . It’s about love and forgiveness and rebuilding their relationship . How do you say I love you and I want to work on our marriage but by the way I’ll see you in court tomorrow as I stand with the prosecution in the case against you . There are such things as single acts of violence where one person gets violent during a heated argument just that one time . This doesn’t make this person a monster or mean that they don’t love the victim. Not to say choking a woman isn’t bad but maybe we should get off our high horses and respect that she doesn’t feel this warrants prosecution so why should we??

I used to work in DV, hellobrooklyn, and I will respectfully say that what you wrote here is complete and utter horsesh*t. The recidivism rate of domestic abusers is staggering. Over 90%. The difference is that the next time this guy hits his wife we won’t hear about it. And the next time and the next time. Plenty of apologies And yes, she is most likely financially dependent on him, which adds another problematic level to the issue.

I worked in a battered women’s shelter and watched women walk out of there all the time with their abusers. Nearly all of them came back. Some of the ones who didn’t come back, well, let’s just say it was because they ended up dead. Domestic violence isn’t a random act. It’s a pathology. Domestic abusers need serious therapeutic solutions. Not just classes or a few days in jail. An actual restructuring of the way they view violence against other people, specifically in partnered relationships.

It’s always a one-time thing. Then a few isolated incidents but not a pattern. Then only because he was frustrated. Then she set him off but it was her fault, she knew she should have been more aware that he was agitated.

HOW ON EARTH are you going to blame the VICTIM here? that is some of the most mind-blowingly ridiculous reasoning I have ever witnessed. ABUSERS need to take accountability and be reprimanded as such. it is in no way the woman’s (or man’s in many cases) fault for getting abused. violent attacks can’t be brushed to the side because “they should’ve known better.” that’s an incredibly toxic mindset and parlays into the pandemic of rape culture where society will say “she shouldn’t have dressed like that” or “she shouldn’t have drank so much” when it should be “he should’ve been taught the meanings of ‘no’ and ‘consent’ and learn boundary lines in the realms of sex.” please look at it from my perspective! we, as a society, need a big overhaul in the way we think in terms of this type of stuff.

So criminal charges have been dropped and even if MLB issues a suspension, so what. Yankees or Cubs will still come after you with boatloads of money or prospects, as long as they have a chance to win. Nice.

That is the rule of the game though right? To win? Teams will take players who have immense talent even if they have severe off the field issues. Look at Greg Hardy; that man is basically insane and the Cowboys still took is manic butt.

The Cubs farm is in no way sold. They still have a top 10 even with the promotions of Contreras, Almora, Edwards and trade of Torres. And if you’re taking a shot at other teams, every other team has a better reputation at not hacking other teams. Or drafting a PED user in the first round. But keep throwing stones from glass houses.

Cubs way overpaid for a rental if chapman and that was a team decision approved by all management. Hacking happened without managements knowledge and guy responsible was fired. Black eye on him not cardinals.

Ummm….the drunk driver you are referrring too is dead. And cards came out and said how it was wrong. Look everyone and team has issues, but I don’t agree with all the money and trades that went down for chapman right after he did what he did. Dodgers backed out of trade for him because of it. Kudos to them. Character matters and cards want to win, and usually compete at the highest level, but not all bust and sign any player regardless of past. Johnny cueto openly wanted to come to cards last offseason and we would have been better with him, probably made playoffs and then who knows. But he had character issues because of fight with cardinals where he ended jason Larues career with a kick to his head. Every team wants to win, but some still try to maintain decency and character as a team.

Tony Larussa was pulled over passed out drunk in a running vehicle less than a mile away from my family’s house. He could have killed somebody I know.

It’s sad, but it’s a fact of life…. these teams do what they have to do in order to win. If the Cards need a player bad enough they’ll deal with whatever they have to deal with.

A lot of these players live checkered lives off the field and we hear nothing about it if they’re lucky enough not to get caught. A lot of them are good dudes, they’re just young and dumb with more money then you and I will ever see.

I’m so tired of hearing about domestic violence among athletes. It’s a. Incredibly serious issue but has no business being discussed in sports or affecting these guys careers. Let the legal Sydney’s take care of the issues and let’s keep players personal lives out of their careers and out of sports. Hope if he did do this he gets his life straightened out, I just am tired of seeing people’s workplaces get involved.

but you’re all for suspending players for drug use, right? double edged sword. if you think it’s ok to beat up your wife you should lose your privilege of playing a sport for a living. just like any other workplace setting, if you get in serious trouble with the law you should find yourself unemployed.

I think people should be suspended for PED use because it actually affects the game. It has to do with the workplace. Regular drug use shouldn’t be suspendable. And this is only related to the integrity of the game, not whether the PEDs are legal. Domestic violence does not have anything to do with the workplace. Neither do morals, unless they occur while at the job. Im not suggesting that it is because domestic violence is not a serious enough criminal offense. I’m suggesting that it shouldn’t be possible for any criminal offense to be serious enough for the workplace to be involved, unless it happens in the workplace or is directly related to it.

And I do get agree that getting in serious trouble with the law should affect your employment in any other job either. Nor do I believe that being a terrible, immoral, or criminal person should affect your income ceiling or what kind of job you can do, unless the offense directly relates to that job.

That’s nice. You’re wrong. Baseball isn’t just a job. Players are icons; their standing within a team reflects the team’s values. Kids look up to these people. You can wish that wasn’t the case, or idealistically claim it shouldn’t matter. But it does. With another, less public type of job, you might have a point. But this isn’t it, and you don’t.

Legally speaking, baseball is just a job. And legally speaking, this guy owes no one else a duty of any sort, including sending your kids the right message. That’s your problem, not his. I recognize that his actions probably do have an effect on kids, and, while that sucks, it doesn’t change the fact that he owes you no duty. Some guy who you’ve never met before simply doesn’t have a responsibility to you or your kids to live his life to your standards. Managing your kids is your problem and yours alone. This simply isn’t a team effort.

Legally speaking, the owners can hire or not hire anyone they want based on character issues or previous suspected criminal offenses. You’ve decided to double down on this shaky, groundless philosophy that ‘nothing directly related to a job should have an effect on a person’s employment’, and you’re picking a really stupid battle. So stop it now, because this is your last chance to be a decent human being today. You really don’t want to blow it. Dont’ worry, eventually, you’ll calm down and realize I’m right. So let’s skip the in-between part and just let that happen now, huh, because I’m not interested in any more nonsense and BS. Thanks. Move on from your grade-school philosophy.l

In terms of being a decent human being, while I think domestic violence is an indicator of a major character issue, I generally think those that want to continue to blackball people who have committed a crime after they’ve served their punishment are always worse people than the domestic abusers themselves. You’ve provided no basis for being right in your argument other than the belief that you’re right. As for eventually agreeing with you, I’m 36 and 2/3 of the way completed with my law degree currently, so I doubt I’ll eventually think your ignorance to be “right.” I believe that once a punishment is completed in terms of the legal system, it should be over, done with forever. I have a problem with employers even being able to find out about past convictions. And legally, you’re wrong, employers may only consider convictions currently, not suspicions, unless covered by a professional organization like Finra or the ABA. I find it shameful that they may even consider these, but they are allowed to.

These players are on a very high and grand stage, and, no matter how much you disagree, they are very influential role models – how many of you have noticed a child emulating the walkup routine, the batting stance, or the personal style of baseball players? I know I have. I’ve seen it all my life. These players, and the people that manage them, have a moral responsibility to all of the children looking up to them to not normalize violence – especially violence against women and children who are emotionally and/or financially dependent on them. Anyone who is not completely ignorant knows about the pervasive sickness of domestic violence — it is a sick cycle of abuse of power that men have — and this can be compounded the more money that men have. For hundreds of years women have retracted their statements because they have been so systematically worn down that they feel worthless and hopeless without their man, and they see a better life for themselves and their children if they can only take the abuse (or they get into the sick spiral of believing that their man has changed, is sorry, or that they can figure out how to keep him happy and therefore not angry enough to hit and scream again).

Regardless – this isn’t free market, at will employment – these players work under a contract that they willingly sign that has collectively-bargained morality clauses in it. No matter what you think about it, they all agreed to it as a union bargaining unit, and then individually sign a promise to behave or be punished. MLB and the players don’t want scumbags that beat women stinking up their workplaces. So it doesn’t matter what you and I think about it, but I am glad that they are setting a potent example for what is acceptable behavior. Just saying you don’t like something often has no effect in an uber-capitalist society, which is why they went after the salary. It’s sad that they have to even have these punishments in place, but hopefully they will change the face of baseball as a sport that will not tolerate violence.

Yeah I’m not denying it affects kids and perpetuates the problem, but it still doesn’t matter a bit to me if it does in terms of this guys responsibility. Making money or being an icon doesn’t make your moral responsibility any greater to anyone, even if it influences kids.

I agree that it collectively bargained for, but would like to see punishments in the workplace for criminal acts that aren’t related directly to the employment totally banned by law in all circumstances, that was kind of the point of post. Some guy you’ve never met before has no duty to your kids, even if it influences them negatively.

So … employers wouldn’t be allowed to discriminate against people convicted of heinous crimes, just like they can’t presently discriminate based upon innate characteristics or other attributes? How would you feel if your new co-worker was, I don’t know, a really talented computer programmer who just wrapped up a stint for murder?

Domestic Violence is two words which instantly conjure an image of a beaten and battered person. However, this is not always the case when charges are applied. The police respond to a reported argument, are told violence occurred and charge domestic violence. Sometimes it is the equivalent of a pissed off female claiming rape to get back at her cheating boyfriend. Understand, I don’t condone rape nor do I condone domestic violence. I do however caution making judgements without having the facts. Many an innocent person has been ruined by speculation regardless of the truth that eventually came out.

were you one of these innocent people who has been ruined by speculation? why spend all of this space to speak out about ~the possibility~ of exceptions to a pervasive and extremely horrible social problem? we don’t need people to condone domestic violence, and this is exactly what you do when you propagandize for exceptions when people are fighting to make headway against a pervasive, deeply rooted, horrible problem — comments such as these are fodder for those that are looking for any reason to disbelieve any woman brave enough to stand up against her abuser.